The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom - The kingdom of Israel, peculiarly sinful; and therefore to be signally destroyed by the Assyrians.
I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob - The race shall not become extinct: I will reserve them as monuments of my justice, and finally of my mercy.
Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom - The sinful kingdom may mean each “sinful kingdom,” as Paul says, God “will render unto every man according to his deeds - unto them who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile” Romans 2:6-9. His “Eyes” are “on the sinful kingdom,” whatsoever or wheresoever it be, and so on Israel also: “and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth.” In this case, the emphasis would be on the, “I will not “utterly” destroy.” God would destroy sinful kingdoms, yet Israel, although sinful, He would not “utterly” destroy, but would leave a remnant, as He had so often promised. Yet perhaps, and more probably, the contrast is between “the kingdom” and “the house of Israel. The kingdom,” being founded in sin, bound up inseparably with sin, God says, “I will destroy from off the face of the earth,” and it ceased forever. Only, with the kingdom, He says, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” to whom were the promises, and to whose seed, whosoever were the true Israel, those promises should be kept. So He explains;
From generation to generation the Lord had borne with His wayward children, and even now, in the face of defiant rebellion, He still longed to reveal Himself to them as willing to save. “O Ephraim,” He cried, “what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” Hosea 6:4. PK 285.1
The evils that had overspread the land had become incurable; and upon Israel was pronounced the dread sentence: “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” “The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it.” Hosea 4:17; 9:7. PK 285.2
The ten tribes of Israel were now to reap the fruitage of the apostasy that had taken form with the setting up of the strange altars at Bethel and at Dan. God's message to them was: “Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; Mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.” “The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it.... It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb” (Sennacherib). Hosea 8:5, 6; 10:5, 6. PK 285.3
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